Microsoft Innovations Lay the Foundation For Computer Telephony Solutions

Plans and Programs Previewed at Computer Telephony Expo '99

LOS ANGELES - March 2, 1999 - Today at Computer Telephony Expo (CT Expo) Spring '99, Microsoft Corp. announced agreements and plans to expand opportunities in computer telephony and converged network communications for customers and developers using any of the Microsoft^® Windows^® operating systems. Microsoft also previewed new technologies expected to increase the use of Windows as the preferred platform for communications solutions.

Organizations need easy-to-use and cost-effective voice and data communications services to enable personal productivity and efficient operations, and to be responsive to their customers. Windows, as an open platform that supports standards, provides the infrastructure to meet these customer requirements. Coupled with third-party support, Windows offers a comprehensive set of communications technologies and solutions from which customers can choose. With the open platform of the Windows family, Microsoft is committed to making it easier for telephony and converged communications software and hardware vendors to bring better solutions to customers more quickly. Today's announcements support this mission.

"Equipment and service providers alike are using the Microsoft Windows family as an open communications platform with broad and growing industry support and customer adoption," said Thomas Koll, vice president of the Internet customer unit at Microsoft. "Today's announcements at CT Expo illustrate Microsoft's commitment to innovation and its continuing work with a variety of companies to develop new opportunities for converged networks based on the Windows platform."

"Today's announcements demonstrate Microsoft's commitment to voice and data communications services," says Jim Burton, president, CT Link. "I am impressed with the progress Microsoft has made in advancing the state of the art, thus creating new business opportunities for the industry."

Overview of Product Previews and Announcements at Show

• Microsoft previews NetMeeting 3.0 and Web-based IVR technology. The forthcoming beta version of Microsoft NetMeeting^® 3.0 conferencing software will offer enhanced ease of use, heightened standards support and new features to extend the position of NetMeeting as the world's most popular Internet conferencing and collaboration program. In addition, Web-based interactive voice response (IVR) technology will give vendors a new way of creating and deploying voice applications, such as interactive voice response using Web technologies. Web-based IVR will enable users to access Web sites via browser software or a telephone and will allow vendors to cost-effectively build scalable IVR and voice-processing solutions using Web authoring tools. Both of these previews demonstrate that the Windows platform is enabling the convergence of Internet Protocol and traditional telephony.

• Microsoft plans to extend Windows TAPI 3.0. Microsoft announced plans to include Windows Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI) version 3.0 in
  Windows 98. TAPI 3.0 is already on track for inclusion with Windows 2000. TAPI enables software written by one company to work with telephony hardware made by another. In addition to other new capabilities, TAPI 3.0 allows applications to work the same way, regardless of whether the Internet, a traditional phone line or an Asynchronous Transfer Mode infrastructure is used for the service. Extending TAPI 3.0 to Windows 98 will enable a larger group of users to take advantage of these benefits and will provide a larger potential market for developer solutions.
• Microsoft signs agreements with Genoa and Dialogic to benefit customers and the industry. Microsoft announced that it has selected Genoa Technology Inc. to perform testing and verification of TAPI service providers as part of the Designed for Windows Logo Program. Adding TAPI to the program is intended to enhance customer satisfaction and provide vendors with benchmarks for performance and interoperability. In addition, Microsoft and Dialogic Corp. announced a licensing, development and investment agreement to enable Microsoft to expand its communications platform support.

Industry Support Continues to Grow for Windows

Approximately one-third of the 350 vendors participating in the Windows NT^® Embedded beta program are working to develop telephony or other communications systems on the new operating system. Also, Microsoft reported that more than 450 independent software vendors (ISVs) now offer telephony and fax solutions, as referenced in the Microsoft vendor solution showcase, which is available on the Web at http://msdnisv.microsoft.com/msdn_isv/directory/. In addition, nearly 40 vendors are appearing in Microsoft's Partner Pavilion at CT Expo, making Microsoft's presence at this year's event its largest to date. Microsoft is committed to supporting the growth and innovation of the communications industry by bringing customers the best choices from which to build solutions.

For more information about Windows-based communications technologies and announcements made at CT Expo '99 please visit http://www.microsoft.com/communications/.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Microsoft, Windows, NetMeeting and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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